The Most Viral Cycling Moments of 2018

As we look back on 2018, a lot happened. Cyclists broke crazy-fast speed records, went on thrill rides, were attacked (and injured), and suffered abuse from angry drivers. A ton of visually cool stuff happened as well, like when Kilian Bron took a sweat-inducing freeride on trails made for hikers. All of this was caught on video or documented by social media in some way, bringing the cycling community closer together in the process.

Here are the wildest, most-talked about stories we posted in 2018.

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This Woman Biked at 184 MPH to Smash the Bicycle Speed Record

Denise Mueller-Korenek is faster than the takeoff speed of an Airbus A340. Earlier this year, she rode a bicycle 183.93 mph to crush the motor-paced bicycle land speed record.

Mueller-Korenek is a 45-year-old national champion cyclist from Valley Center, California. To get this record, she mounted a specially equipped bike with a massive gear and tethered it to a race car, which then accelerated to 100-plus mph—the velocity necessary for the rider to turn over the cranks on her own volition. Then she unhooked from the car and stayed in the slipstream, smashing the pedals around to hit the highest speed possible under her own power.

She and her driver, Shea Holbrook, a seven-time Pirelli World Challenge winner, already held the Guinness World Record for the fastest female motor-paced time at 147.7 mph, a speed they hit using a specially adapted Range Rover in 2016.

Unfortunately, drivers “roll coal” on cyclists far too often. That is, pickup truck drivers shoot exhaust fumes through a modified diesel engine to enshroud cyclists, pedestrians, or other cars in a cloud of smoke when they drive by. This time, a photographer, Michael Conti (who is also a cyclist) happened to catch it on camera. Conti says this happens to him all too frequently while he is riding in his home of Park City, Utah, and when he was participating in the Race Across America.

Conti took his photos to the Utah Highway Patrol, who used the license-plate number to contact the driver. They have also been plastered all over social media, but hopefully this is a lesson in what not to do for drivers everywhere.

American rider Lawson Craddock turned an early setback at the Tour de France into a good cause. In the feed zone during Stage 1, a dropped water bottle sent Craddock crashing off the road. He suffered a fractured scapula and a deep cut above his eye, which required stitches.

Rather than quitting early, he decided to keep going and donate $100 for every stage he was able to finish. He was raising money for to help pay for repairs to his hometown velodrome, the Alkek Velodrome in Houston, Texas, for damage caused by Hurricane Harvey. Craddock’s GoFundMe raised more than $280,000, well over his original $21,000 goal.

Carlene Ostedgaard was cycling on a bike path on her commute home in Portland when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She feared the worst—she had heard of booby traps set up to catch cyclists and already made her own plan to minimize the impact if she was unfortunate enough to run into a jungle of fishing line.

Luckily, she was prepared for this moment and put her head down so her helmet took the impact of several layers of string—the type of thick, glazed twine you can buy at a hobby store—and pedaled another 300 feet or so to safety. Ostedgaard came away mostly unharmed and didn’t have to go to the hospital for her injuries. The police came to the scene and were able to arrest the responsible perpetrators.

After being stabbed in the head, this rider didn’t want to wait for medical care. Instead, he rode himself to the hospital with a knife still in his skull.

This South African cyclist was commuting to work (sensing a theme here?) when two men attacked him out of the blue. He had emergency surgery to remove the knife and is believed to make a full recovery.

Kilian Bron once again took his thrill-seeking freeride to a new, terrifying location. Watch as he shreds the via ferrata, or “iron paths,” in the Dolomite mountains in Italy. These paths were first carved into the Alps by 19th-century explorers for climbers, and, later, soldiers in World War I.

Today, the beautiful backdrop of the via ferrata serves as a popular location for both experienced and beginner climbers, but definitely are not suited for mountain bikers, which is what brought Bron to the trails.

Well, this is ironic. A driver in Scotland told a cyclist riding alongside (and using a helmet cam) that he could safely use his phone and drive, then proceeded to crash soon after in a satisfying twist of fate. Although the cyclist says he doesn’t think the driver was actually using his phone when he crashed, hopefully it’s a lesson to all of us to put the damn phone down when we’re behind the wheel.

Every cyclist’s nightmare plays out when a driver in Australia was caught on camera taking his road rage out on a cyclist. This driver used his car as a weapon and sideswiped this cyclist in the bike lane, which should be a safe space. As if this wasn’t enough for the driver, he got out of his car and threw the bike further from the downed rider.

Thankfully, the assaulted cyclist was relatively unharmed and the driver did suffer some consequences with a charge of reckless driving causing injury, which slapped him with a $1,000 (AUD) fine.

Jordan SmithDigital EditorHer love of all things outdoors came from growing up in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and her passion for running was sparked by local elementary school cross-country meets.

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